Plant Garlic in the Fall: A Zone 7 Guide to Next Summer's Harvest

Garlic is one of the few crops you plant in the fall and harvest before the heat of next summer. It is also one of the most forgiving things you can grow, which makes it a perfect fall job for a home gardener who is already tired from canning and storing the rest of the season.

The timing feels backward at first. You put a clove in the ground in October or November, it sits through the winter, pushes up green shoots in early spring, and then, around June, you dig up a bulb that kept three or four months in the pantry. There is no other garden crop that rewards you so early the next year for such little work.

This guide is written for a Zone 7 garden, the climate most of the South and mid-Atlantic home in. It covers which garlic to buy, when to plant, how deep to set the cloves, how to mulch and feed, and when to pull it out of the ground next spring.

Why Fall Is the Right Time

Garlic needs a stretch of cold weather to form a proper bulb. The cold, usually six to eight weeks below about 40 degrees after it has rooted, triggers the plant to split into separate cloves. Plant in spring and you often get a single round bulb with no real cloves, or a small, undeveloped head.

In Zone 7, the window to plant is roughly October through early December. The exact date matters less than giving the cloves time to root before the ground freezes hard. A good rule of thumb is to plant about three to four weeks before the ground is likely to freeze, which in Zone 7 usually lands in November.

You want the garlic to grow roots before winter, but you do not want it to push up lots of top growth. A little green showing in late fall is fine and expected. What you are aiming for is roots holding the clove in place through the winter, ready to take off in early spring.

Hardneck or Softneck: Pick for Your Climate

Garlic comes in two main types, and the choice matters for how well it grows in your area and how long it stores.

Hardneck garlic forms a stiff central stalk and sends up a curled flower stalk called a scape in late spring. It tends to be hardier and does well in colder zones, and many gardeners say it has the boldest flavor. The tradeoff is that it does not store as long, usually three to five months.

Softneck garlic has no stiff stalk, braids easily, and stores longer, often six to nine months. It tends to do better in mild, warmer winters. In Zone 7, softneck is usually the more reliable choice, though hardneck will grow if your winters have enough chill.

For most Zone 7 gardeners, the practical pick is a softneck variety. It stores through the winter, which is the whole point of growing your own garlic, and it handles the warmer winters of the South well. If you want bold flavor and do not mind eating it sooner, a hardneck is worth a try, and you get the bonus of scapes to eat in late spring.

Buy Seed Garlic, Not the Grocery Bulb

This is the mistake beginners make most often. The garlic you buy at the grocery store is often treated so it will not sprout, and the variety was chosen for shelf life in a warehouse, not for growing in your garden. It may sprout, but it is a gamble, and commercial bulbs can also carry disease.

Instead, buy seed garlic from a local grower, a farmers market, or a reputable seed company. Local seed garlic is the best choice, because it is already adapted to your climate and it has not been shipped from across the country.

When you buy, look for:

• Firm, plump bulbs with no soft spots or mold
• Big cloves, since big cloves grow into big bulbs
• A variety suited to your zone, usually noted on the label

You can keep a few of your own best bulbs from this year's harvest for next season. Saving your own is the cheap, self-reliant path, and over a few years it lets the garlic adapt to your exact garden.

Separate the Cloves Just Before Planting

Do not break the bulbs apart weeks ahead of time. Separate the cloves the day you plant, or the night before. Kept whole, the bulb protects the cloves from drying out and rotting.

A day or two before planting you can soak the cloves in water with a little baking soda for a few hours, which some growers say helps. This step is optional. The most important thing is to keep the cloves dry and intact until they go in the ground.

How Deep to Plant and How Far Apart

Depth and spacing are two of the few details that genuinely change your harvest.

• Plant cloves pointy end up, about two inches deep, measuring from the top of the clove to the soil surface.
• In heavier clay soil, a shallower planting, about an inch and a half, helps the clove push up in spring.
• Space cloves about six inches apart in rows ten to twelve inches apart.
• Some gardeners plant closer, four to five inches, for a higher yield of slightly smaller bulbs. Six inches is the safer, larger-bulb choice.

A simple way to plant is to press each clove into the soil with your finger or a planting dibble, drop it in, and cover it. Do not push the clove too hard, and do not plant it upside down. The flat, root end goes down and the pointy tip goes up.

Site, Soil, and Feeding

Garlic wants full sun and loose, well-drained soil. It does not do well in soggy, heavy ground, where the cloves rot over winter. If your soil drains poorly, a raised bed is the easiest fix.

Before planting, loosen the soil and work in a couple of inches of compost. Garlic is a moderate feeder. Too much nitrogen makes leafy tops at the expense of the bulb, so keep feeding light. A balanced fertilizer or a sprinkle of compost at planting and again in early spring is usually plenty.

Avoid planting garlic where onions, garlic, or other alliums grew the year before. Diseases that attack alliums can build up in the soil. A simple rotation keeps your garlic healthier from year to year.

Mulch After Planting

Mulch is what carries the garlic through winter in Zone 7. After planting, spread three to four inches of straw, shredded leaves, or clean hay over the bed.

The mulch does several jobs:

• It steadies the soil temperature and keeps the cloves from heaving in freeze-thaw cycles.
• It holds in moisture.
• It suppresses the weeds that would otherwise crowd the young shoots in early spring.
• In warmer winters, it keeps the soil cool enough for the garlic to get the chill it needs.

Leave the mulch in place through the winter. In early spring, when the shoots start pushing through, you can pull a little mulch away so the growing garlic is not smothered, but there is no rush to remove it all.

Care in Spring and Knowing When to Harvest

Once the garlic is up in spring, it needs very little. Water during dry spells, and side-dress lightly once in early spring if growth looks weak. Remove any flower scapes on hardneck garlic when they curl, so the plant puts energy into the bulb instead of the seed stalk. The scapes themselves are a tasty bonus, good sauteed or pickled.

The hardest part for many home gardeners is waiting. Garlic is ready to harvest in mid to late June in Zone 7, when the lower leaves start to brown and dry, but the upper leaves are still mostly green. You want about half to two-thirds of the leaves brown.

• Dig, do not pull, to avoid bruising the bulb.
• Shake off the loose soil, but do not wash the bulb.
• Cure it whole, leaves and all, in a dry, shaded, airy spot for two to three weeks.
• Once the leaves are fully dry and the skin is papery, trim the roots and tops for storage.

Store cured garlic in a cool, dry, dark place, around 55 to 60 degrees. Do not put it in the refrigerator, where it will sprout and lose flavor. Softneck garlic, stored properly, will carry you through much of the winter.

Plant This Fall, Eat All Next Year

Garlic asks very little of you and gives back a lot. A couple of square feet of bed, a handful of cloves, and a few hours of fall work turn into a braid or a basket of bulbs by next summer, with enough to save for replanting and enough to share or trade with a neighbor.

It is that neighborly piece that matters here. Garlic is easy to grow in surplus, and surplus is one of the best reasons to grow your own. When you have more than your family can use, a gift from the garden or a trade at the local table keeps the whole neighborhood fed well and simply.

Plant your cloves this fall, and you will have earned next summer's crop long before the first harvest arrives.

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— C. Steward 🥕